In the bustling world of food wholesale and distribution, managing accounts receivable efficiently is crucial for maintaining healthy cash flow and fostering strong customer relationships.

PencilPay offers a solution that simplifies and automates payment processes, helping businesses like P10 Foods thrive.

This article explores the benefits of PencilPay for food wholesalers and distributors, with a spotlight on the success story of P10 Foods to illustrate its transformative impact.

The Challenges Faced by Food Wholesalers and Distributors:

Diverse Customer Base

Food wholesalers and distributors often deal with a wide variety of customers, from large chains to small independent stores. Managing the different payment terms and conditions for each customer can be complex and time-consuming.

Ensuring that each customer adheres to their agreed payment terms requires significant administrative effort.

Varied Payment Terms

Different customers often have different payment terms, ranging from prepaid to net 30 or even net 60 days. Keeping track of these varied terms and ensuring timely collections can be a logistical nightmare. Late payments can disrupt cash flow and hinder business operations.

High Administrative Labour

Managing accounts receivable manually involves a lot of administrative work, from sending out invoices and reminders to following up on late payments. This not only consumes valuable time and resources but also increases the risk of human error.

Cash Flow Management

Maintaining a healthy cash flow is essential for the sustainability of any business. Delays in payment collections can lead to cash flow problems, making it difficult to meet operational expenses and invest in business growth.

Customer Trust and Security

Ensuring that customer payment information is handled securely is crucial for maintaining trust. Any breach of payment data can damage customer relationships and result in significant financial and reputational losses.

How PencilPay Addresses These Challenges

1: Seamless Customer Onboarding

PencilPay automates the onboarding process, integrating customer information directly into your existing systems like Cin7 Core. This eliminates manual data entry, reducing errors and saving time.

2: Automated Payments

PencilPay allows for the secure storage of customer payment information and facilitates automated payments. This ensures timely collections and reduces the labour associated with chasing late payments.

3: Enhanced Security and Compliance

With PencilPay, each customer agreement is digitally signed and securely stored. This not only enhances the security of your transactions but also provides a solid foundation for future collections if needed.

4: Improved Cash Flow

Automating the payment process with PencilPay leads to quicker payment cycles, improving cash flow. Businesses see cash in their accounts sooner, allowing for better financial planning and stability.

5: Customer Convenience

PencilPay offers an intuitive interface for customers to view their balances and make payments. This improves the customer experience and reduces the burden on your customer service team.

Customer Success Story: P10 Foods

P10 Foods, a wholesale distribution company in the southeastern United States, delivers specialty foods and products to a diverse range of customers, including major chains like Whole Foods and Fresh Market, as well as independent markets and neighbourhood stores.

With around 800 active customers and a thousand different products, managing payments efficiently was a significant challenge.

Nick Carse, owner and founder of P10 Foods, shares their experience:

“We use PencilPay for customer onboarding and automated payments to streamline our processes and ensure timely collections. By integrating PencilPay with Cin7 Core, we’ve significantly reduced the labour related to collections and improved our cash flow.”

“Our average outstanding over 45 days has decreased from about $170k to $120k. We’re seeing cash in the bank sooner, which has been a substantial improvement. Once customers are set up on PencilPay, it becomes a much better option for them to view their balances and make payments. This has not only reduced our customer service workload but also improved our overall efficiency.”

Conclusion

PencilPay is a game-changer for food wholesalers and distributors looking to streamline their payment processes and enhance operational efficiency.

By automating customer onboarding and payments, PencilPay helps businesses reduce administrative labour, ensure timely collections, and improve cash flow.

Ready to transform your payment processes and boost your business efficiency? Discover how PencilPay can streamline your operations and enhance customer trust. Contact us today for a demo and see how PencilPay can benefit your business!